It's all in the eyes
by Alkyonides Meres
Summary: Because he knows now that she was always meant to be his.. That his brother that day wanted him to forever remember her, so when it all came down to this, she could be his place in the sun as well. Very mild SasuHina.


_**Just a oneshot. Kind of Alternative Timeline.**_

_**Warnings : Mild spoilers.**_

_**Characters : Uchiha Sasuke, Uchiha Itachi, Hyuuga Hinata.**_

_**Summary : **__Because he knows now that she was always meant to be his.. That his brother that day wanted him to forever remember her, so when it all came down to this, she could be his place in the sun as well._

He remembers now. It's strange how it seems to have taken him years, {_years of blocked emotions and hunches and thoughts}_ to actually remember his beautiful,{ _torn} _brother before the massacre, before the missions that took him away for months on end, _before his duties made him weary and tired and lost_. It takes him years to realise all those small moments that betrayed the truth about his character and how he easily forgot what was inconvenient and wrong in his right _{those pieces that no matter what never made sense}_.

_He shudders to think just how long it will take him till he actually begins to contemplate himself through these years and what his action will reflect later on._

For now though, he stands above an old, marble pond, slowly falling into decay a little bit further from the outskirts of The Village Hidden in the Rain. This place here, near this old, lonely pond, has reluctantly become his favorite, even when he knows that in this world having anything fond means it can be taken advantage of _the water could be poisoned in such manner that toxic fumes could come from it the next time he comes here,all because this world is rotten and feeds on such weakness as favorites. _However, he always returns and he doesn't quite know why _{prefers not to aknowledge it} _and what exactly makes him come back to this old, _rotten _place that seems to be the only reminder of a now lost, yet then glorious mansion. His eyes can see the house beyond slowly falling apart, nothing left, scavangers and the wildners of this woods have made it certain, yet the only thing that still stands proud and alive is this pond here. What a depressing, pathetic little pond. Perhaps, _he thinks with malice _this is what it feels to be a_ relic _of something that was once great. Perhaps this pond here considers itself as something mighty, something to be considered of, yet it has fallen to the likes of ones such as him to ever visit and aknowledge it, because, really, what good is it, when the main house has fallen apart. Inwardly, he doesn't like the undercurrent thought that he subconsiously likens himself to an old fountain, to anything inanimate for that,_ because really what the fuck_, but he can't deny the simple connection in this. Alone, even something glorious, such as this highly crafted pond,_ anything can dim. _How depressing. Well, it's not like he ever was all sunshine and smiles _{those belonged to a golden haired, azure eyed demon fox} _.

Softly and with a gentleness he's forgotten he possessed, Sasuke runs tough, calloused, _teenage,_ fingers over the edge of this ancient beauty, it's water green and murky and repulsing to all his senses, yet her beauty remains and has him transfixed and left wondering at how this place tugs at strings in that hollow inside his chest he has forgotten they even existed. Pondering for some time on the unusual reactions his mind (he refuses to believe he has that other organ anymore for any other purpose than giving him blood, let alone feelings) _{azure eyes stare mockingly at him}_ is eliciting in him and because he is first and foremost _and only_ an Uchiha genius, the dark haired boy sets out to find the meaning behind this heavy sense _feeling _of.. something. Closing tightly those tired, worn,_ souless _eyes _{remind you anything boy?}_ he allows his senses to guide him back the lane of memories buried deep within _that were never meant to be found again_, memories left to treasure _yet never be revisited for the implications they always carried could prove to be too much_. The boy softly smells the old, comforting scent of wet ground _{Konoha's forest would smell like this after the rainy seasons in the fall, and he would stand just a second more every morning to inhale that sweet aroma before going to train}_, fills his nostrils with it's sweet heavy perfume. His hands lightly touch the uneven surface of the pond, tracing the engravings on it like it is an old lover, tenderly,_ almost adoringly_, while his ears listen to the whispers of the water as it lulls back and forth, ever patient _ever resilient_.

And just like that he is a boy of five again and he can still taste the sweetness of that dango {_like a true shinobi and oh nii-san did you see?}_, even if he himself dislikes anything sweet, just so to know he could do it and get away with it,_ just so to know he was loved and cared for_. A dainty, tender hand caresses softly his locks of raven hair and for a brief moment he can see her clearly, that patient smile and those lovin, _tired souless _eyes before she withdraws her hand hastily as though she has done something she shouldn't {_and she has but it does not matter anymore}_ and discreetly looks at the elders {_they were the first to die that night and for all he tried he never really cared for that}_, worrying they had caught her slight weakness to a child meant to be hers _always_. Little Sasuke stifles a complaint and the bile in his throat, intelligent young eyes understanding more than what they were letting on and just rested back on his spot at his beautiful mother's side. Alas, it is not to last however, for he remembers the one he is looking for and so he looks around again wondering about something he just can't quite remember, _a sort of anxiety almost making him fidgety yet what was it? why was today so important to him?_

Then he spots _him_. He spots him and nothings matters anymore, not now not ever and his breath hitches in his throat and foreign feeling interfere with a memory that's supposed to be simple_ and yet is not_ and really all he needs is to {_reach out to him, call out, ask him all he needs}_ just get the fuck under control. He does before any real harm can be made, _before a memory is turned into a dream._ Slowly the little boy stands, hesitantly moving towards the figure of his _beautiful tormented_ aniki, his beloved, most important person in the world that is slightly crouching now and subtly smiling_, smiling an expression he's seen in times that can be counted on the fingers of his one hand and were all for him_, to a hunched over, _trembling _little thing. The boy {_he}_ is curious and perhaps a little indigant _and perhaps a little jealous_, because _really_, this times were their own, where they got together and ignored the world, so just who is this weird looking person with pearly eyes that steals his brother's attention, when he himself can barely have it for the fleetiest of moments. Itachi senses him come near and Sasuke senses him do that and something must have clicked in Itachi, _a puzzle solved_ at that exast second for he can tell from the way his lips tighten_ just that bit _and his eyes skip for the briefest of seconds to him that Aniki has it all figured out now and Sasuke thinks that this glance from him is perhaps all the invitation he is going to get to go near him that night. As such, he hurries his tiny steps and urgently, though dignified _he hopes_ approaches them, fearing and wishing that whatever test this is, _because he makes no mistake in thinking that itachi wishes for them to socialise with a five year old_, he must pass it, for he feels there are a lot at stake here, though it's more than a gut feeling. _Yet, he remembers he used to hear them back then._

"And this, Hyuuga-chan is my little brother, Sasuke, the one I've told you about." A conspiratory _happy_ laugh_ {of all things} from him_ and a shy smile from her. " Perhaps you've met him before? You are the same age after all" Itachi speaks softly, while gazing at her, long and hard, though she's barely lifted her own pearly eyes to look back at him

"Hello" she gently mutters, hiding her colored cheeks behind a silken kimono sleeve. Tiny fingers grasp it tightly while she murmurs through her teeth _like an impecicle he thinks with spite_. "It's a pleasure"

It takes all of his strength to not actually attack this sniveling, pathetic little thing, though at the same time he wonders just how frail she is. A gust of wind is sure to knock her over and _that just won't do _for if he is correct, _and he rarely isn't _this is the current _heiress _of the Hyuuga clan, famed for their _equalness _to the Uchiha. So, according to him, this creature here is supposed to be the counter part to Itachi..? Her..? That weakling whisp of a girl..? He almost laughs out loud at this, at the incredulity of it all, yet one glance from Itachi _one whisper of a demand through those eyes_ and his breath is caught in his throat. So, instead, he chooses to reply to her in a soft _like hers_, yet confident _unlike hers_ voice. Itachi hasn't once removed his eyes from them and their little display _{sometimes he feels as though he is a puppet on a string, or yet like a guinea pig for his brother's amusement, and he doesn't quite know how to feel about that}_ and Sasuke can't hope to read him now {_ever}_, for his face is skillfuly and perfectly hiding all that goes through that wonderful head of his. Wistfully the boy sighs and looks at him in question and slight indignation {_because, really what does this all mean?}. _His aniki realises all this _{the question, the slowly starting iritation, the beginnings of something close to disdain} _ but does not move. Sasuke in turn looks back at her, in vain hopes that she might have something figured out.

His breath gets caught.

The little Hyuuga, he never did catch her name, _too busy resenting her_, is _looking _at him. Really looking at him, inside him, through him _straight into his being_. She points a stare at him so open, _so clear_, so _honest _that even in the tender and guiless age of five he knows that this stare is _dangerous_ and weak and strong and _oh so very wrong for a place, a world like theirs _and he instictively takes a step back, _wanting to hide away, to become invisible because if she.. _If what she sees inside him make him unworthy in her eyes, he feels it will rip him apart. So he retaliates with a growl and a threating step forward, to intimidate her _to make her take those eyes off him._ She blushes horribly and quickly averts them but it was too late, she'd seen. And so had he, for it seems that Sasuke got to glimpse to a place inside her as well, still, no matter, those were eyes meant to inspire the fiercest kind of loyalty. It was something about them that was so undeniably alive they made you hurt just to try to dampen them. They made you ache for things that don't exist in a world like theirs. It was their vividy, the fact that there was nothing tired _nothing hidden and shadowy_ in those soulful eyes.

His Itachi suddenly shifts, breaking the spell and stoping him before he manages to make a fool of himself and softly bids the shy girl goodbye _his tone polite and gentle and kind and everything it was and wasn't Itachi_. She looks up at him slowly, sadly, _understandingly{_ _such a tiny little thing} _and mutters something in secret to him, before rushing off to her mother's open arms. Sasuke remains gazing at her still, watching a beautiful _brown eyed _woman softly gathering her daughter and showering her with open love and care, {_completely disregarding her elder's ominous glares at the back of her head or the eyes full of hate of the heavily pregnant Hyuuga woman beside the Head} _. She is a beautiful, _beautiful _woman, free and chained and when she smiles at her husband,{ _even if technically she is nothing but a second wife, a disgrace to the main line}_ Sasuke thinks he sees the Head of the Hyuuga so completely taken and content _and in love_, that nothing, ever, could touch him _{a lie but there's no need to know that yet}_.

It made him all the more intimidating, this open happiness of his, Sasuke thinks with envy. He stares at a loss towards his own mother and father, _her head bent down, eyes tired and restless, his, cold and detrmined _and although they have Itachi _{genius and prodigy and one of a kind}_, although they have him _{second best but still better than the Hyuuga's first}_, although they were both geniuses and_ oh so special_, it seems that _it's not enough_. It seems that were it matters it does not count at all. Hiashi had won at something he never really cared to participate in and Sasuke was feeling oddly inadequate and tired and lost. His brother's hands came to rest upon his shoulders and he too seems so worn out _and like he is carrying in his shoulders the weight of the world_.

Well darn that little girl and her stupid mother and father _{all secret smiles and hidden glances}_. She was nothing but a stummering, sniveling coward that would most likely drop dead at her first mission and there was nothing special about her. So darn her and her family of white eyed freaks and stern gazes _{and browned eyed loving women}_. In his anger he voices those thoughts to Itachi, desperate to hear him comment, say how he was right, how their parents and house and family and_ even them _were so above those people it wasn't even_ worth _the comparison.

Instead he is greeted with those solemn, endless black eyes that shine ever so slightly under the sun and he thinks he can see something unguarded and _open _in that gaze that is closely yet not entirely reminiscent of _hers_. Itachi then blinks and it's gone as quickly as it came and his response to him shakes him so badly he thinks he lost some part of himself _{innocence and faith}_ that night.

"She is going to exceed me one day" his brother whispers soothingly, like what he says isn't ground breaking to him. "She is going to succed where you and I are doomed to fail, for even if she comes to forget it, Hinata is a child loved and treasured from a union yearned even if scorned. So even if she may lose her path because of her own insecurities and faults, there will always be something for her to hold on, to remind her that once she was so absolutely loved that nothing, no one could ever touch her. So she will keep that gaze burning and she will save her family, while ours will fall slowly to decay, for we breed, we don't love and we lead, we don't guide. We've forgotten how to be a family, and no one in here seems to remember. But you Sasuke, you too need to remember always ok? For you also are loved and to me you'll always be the only family I'll ever need"

_"You need to always remember this."_

He opens his eyes with a start. Fighting with the bile that has closed his throat, he can't think, can't move, can't breath. How the fuck could he forget,_ how could he ever really doubt _such a blatant display of affection from a normally reclusive, silent older brother?

How could he forget the pond near which they had talked for hours of Hyuugas and Uchihas, of clans and families _and the difference between_ and of their hopes for change. How could he forget the one absolut proof his brother ever gave him of his undying loyalty to him?

"You know, Itachi's words echo, you are like her too. A little piece of sunshine. A nice place in the sun to escape the darkness. Yes, you're kind of like Hinata".

_Hinata Hyuuga._

For years he locked away memories of about everything including his brother. He locked away every thought, every feeling, every word but the hate. But now, only a month after everything and he slowly begins to remember all those things he's hidden out of spite and blindness. He slowly begins to realise things and for the first time after three long years he is geniusly afraid. Afraid of what he will come to remember next and just how closer to madness he'll come.

Sasuke shudders to think what his feelings will be after it's all done but mostly he shudders the time that he will meet _her _again,_ {for he knows in his guts he will meet her again and it's as certain to him as the fact that he's breathing now} _and what he will do, {_because he knows that she was always meant to be his.. That his brother that day wanted him to forever remember her, so when it all came down to this, she could be his place in the sun as well.}_

Sasuke fears for Hinata, should he decide upon it _upon claiming her as his own_. Because if he was right, and he rarely wasn't, there is nothing on this earth that will _{can}_ stop him.

From somewhere in the echoes of his mind he thinks he hears his brother's quiet, rare laugh and Sasuke closes, weary, torn, _burning _eyes and hopes he isn't being manipulated once more by wishful musings _and well meaning family_.

The sun slowly and carefully caress his face.

_She's mine._


End file.
